When a Malignant Narcissist Starts to Unravel

People often laugh at the outrageous behavior and comments of a narcissist, but what you are actually seeing may be the unraveling of an unstable personality. As a narcissist further unravels, they can become more and more destructive, to themselves and to others. Shaw told me that this is one of the hardest things for people involved with such individuals to believe:

“People who have become enthralled by a narcissistic leader of a movement of some kind, whether it be religious, political, or even therapeutic, are often approached by family members or friends, desperate to persuade their loved one that they are worshipping a false prophet. But once this kind of attachment has been made, and a person has become a ‘True Believer,’ in Eric Hoffer’s famous phrase, people will cling to the commitment they’ve made, no matter how crazy or destructive it would seem to others, as though their life depended on it.”